Commerce, capitalism and anarchy run rampant in the 2012 film, Cosmopolis.
Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) is a 28-year-old billionaire. He wants to get a haircut across town in Manhattan. Defying his head of security, Torval (Kevin Durand), who worries about a threat to Eric’s life plus the traffic issues caused by the U.S. President’s visit, insists they still go. Eric rides in the lap of luxury, travelling in his custom stretch limo, complete with computer screens, a bar and medical devices ready for his daily visit from his doctor. He’s safe because it’s bulletproof, and he takes meetings and his lovers in the state-of-the-art vehicle. Eric runs across his heiress wife, Elise (Sarah Gadon), who reveals that they haven’t consummated their new marriage, and Eric wants to find somewhere to connect on that level, but their several meetings throughout the day prove to be a lesson in frustration. More trouble crosses his path as anarchists riot in the streets, his fortune is in jeopardy as the Chinese Yuan falls, and sorrow finds him as his favourite musician dies. He must deal with his ego, contemplate his life, and come to terms with how the simple act of going for a haircut will tempt fate and drastically change his life.
David Cronenberg’s adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 2003 book of the same name creates an interesting commentary on the haves and the have-nots and the violence spawned from inequality. Using dialogue that is philosophical, transactional, and cryptic all at once, interactions with Eric are a hierarchy of negotiations in this take on capitalism in the future. Filmed in Toronto, Cosmopolis stars Juliette Binoche, Samantha Morton, Paul Giamatti and Kevin Durand.
